Why would U6 believe he was Uranus Drake when the famous scientist was clearly not on board the Space Ark? Abraham Atom wondered. After all, U6 controlled access via the station’s docking port, and she would surely know that his space shuttle hadn’t docked recently.
Or had it? He didn’t relish an unexpected visit from his old friend while he was meddling in the secret Sector 16.
But there could be another explanation. He had noted before that despite her incredible intelligence, the supercomputer had no perception of real time – maybe because she was involved in so many things at the same time, U6 wasn’t programmed to link her activities in a timeline. So, as long as Uranus didn’t contact U6 from somewhere else, the admiral thought, he may just get away with his deception.
“Anything special today, dear doctor?” U6 asked politely.
Just doing some checks, the admiral typed. Give me a summary of Sector 16’s activity over the past week, please.
Another benefit of artificial intelligence is that they never question orders. A long stream of figures and graphs began to roll over the screens in Sector 16.
It didn’t take long before the admiral had accessed all of its secrets.
Chapter 19
MADAME SAVY AND MONSIEUR HODOUL
Raymond Hodoul had paid an early-morning visit to Madame Savy’s office at the archives.
“I do not know, Monsieur Hodoul!” Madame Savy was waving her small hands in the air like two startled birds. “I do not know what could have happened! You are right, there has been a break-in and it does look like an inside job. But I didn’t call the police because I thought it was that silly child who caused all the trouble. You know what young people are like these days, but it was Abraham’s child.”
Monsieur Hodoul was trying his best to reassure the keeper of the archives. He knew her well: she was a great friend of his mother. Although an extremely disciplined and orderly woman, she could get very emotional when something happened that upset her quiet life.
“Anna told me all about it – she came straight to me after she left here. She and that gigantic servant they keep at Monpetit.”
Madame Savy nodded. “Oh yes, he was here too. He came to fetch her. I didn’t like him much.”
“Anna told me what happened here, and she showed me the dagger she found in the sea.”
“Ah! That dagger belongs to your family, Monsieur Hodoul, I am sure of it! Nevertheless, it was good of her to take it directly to you. Maybe I was wrong. I hope she had nothing to do with the disappearance of those precious papers.”
“My dear Madame Savy, I do believe the child is innocent. She was merely playing at treasure hunting, and by chance she came upon something that seems to be of interest to somebody else as well. Now, I wonder who that could be …”
“Mon dieu!” Madame Savy was looking very worried again. “Who indeed!”
“May I have a look at your register, Madame?” Raymond Hodoul asked. “I’m sure you keep a register of all visitors, as well as the material they look at?”
“But of course. I will get it for you right away.” Madam Savy hurried to the front desk and retrieved a thick blue book. She started paging through it as she walked back to her office.
“But this is terrible! Sacrilege! The second-last page had been torn out – see, here is Mademoiselle Anna Atom’s entry from yesterday. I didn’t notice then that the previous page was missing!” Madame Savy was now close to tears, and she shrunk under Monsieur Hodoul’s stern glance.
At that moment he closely resembled his ancestor: a fierce pirate ready to launch a murderous attack. But then he shrugged and smiled. He wasn’t going to get anything out of this poor lady by scolding her for her incompetence.
“Are you sure, Madame, that nothing else is missing? No valuables?”
“I am sure, Monsieur. I have checked and rechecked. It is only the pirate’s papers.”
Again, a sudden scowl darkened Monsieur Hodoul’s face. “He was no pirate. He was a privateer. He had letters of marque issued by the King of France to attack enemy ships on his country’s behalf. He was a soldier fighting for France.”
Madame Savy’s eyes were large and round, and she started to tremble very slightly. Monsieur Hodoul turned on his heel, and stormed out of the archives.
“But, Monsieur Hodoul, I do not need the register!” Madame Savy called after him. “I do not need it because I know precisely who visited two days ago and looked at Hodoul’s boxes. I never forget, and I am a good archivist!”
But Raymond Hodoul was already gone.
Chapter 20
EXPLORING THE SHADOWY SHADES OF BLUE
Mutt gave a high-pitched bark as the Submarine Explorer escaped from the hatch out into the open sea, and Anna felt the surge of excitement that she always experienced when she entered the world below the sea’s surface.
“I drives, Miss Anna?” Max asked.
“No thank you, Max. My mom had taught me how to steer the sub. But please stay with me, I need you to guide us to the wreck of the Chivonne.”
Max activated a display with a detailed 3D map of the sea surrounding the island. A tiny flashing red ship indicated the site of Hodoul’s lost vessel.
It was cool inside the cabin, but Anna was dressed for the beach. She fiddled with a few switches to make it slightly warmer. The Submarine Explorer was fitted with the same technology the admiral had designed for the aquabreather: panels filtered oxygen directly from the surrounding ocean. As long as the little sub kept moving, the air supply would never run out. Its engines were powered by a small brontium reactor, and Anna knew it produced enough energy for them to circle the globe approximately four times, depending on speed and cruise depth.
What could go wrong?
It was a fine day. The water was crystal clear, and above their heads the surface of the sea was as smooth as a bowl of jelly. A group of cuttlefish swam close to the transparent hull of the submarine, curiously looking at Anna with their big, owl-like eyes. As Anna watched, they changed their colour from transparent pink to sandy brown as they scuttled away over the sea floor.
The sub had now reached the floor of the cove below Monpetit’s house.
The shelter of the island acted as a giant nursery for all kinds of creatures, and soon they were surrounded by a myriad of tiny fish. Their silver bodies scattered light around the water like glitter in a snow globe.
Slowly the sub cruised into deeper water.
Microphones on the outside of its body transmitted sound into the cabin. As they approached the reef, Anna could hear the constant “krr-krrr” of creatures living and feeding off the coral. She spied a couple of large, colourful parrotfish chipping pieces off a coral-encrusted rock with their hard-lipped mouths. One of them ejected a cloud of sand, and she remembered her mother explaining that parrotfish grind up pieces of coral as they feed, digesting the juicy bits and excreting the rest. For thousands of years they have been contributing to the islands’ beautiful beaches.
Each creature has its place in the world: that’s what Anna had been taught.
A pair of stately rays glided past, taking no heed of the little sub intruding into their secluded world. A school